Last month, the controversial anti-child trafficking movie Sound of Freedom premiered and, although it was certainly no Barbie nor Oppenheimer, it managed to exceed box office expectations. Now, though, a dark detail about the film has come to the surface: one of its funders has been arrested for child kidnapping.
According to Newsweek, Fabian Marta, one of the several individuals who funded the film via a crowdfunding contribution, was arrested on Sunday, July 23rd, by St. Louis Metropolitan Police and has been charged with felony child kidnapping. In the credits of the film, “Fabian Marta and Family” appears on a list of those who made the movie possible.
In since-deleted Facebook posts, Marta touted his role in the creation of the film, describing himself as a “financial partner” who helped “get the rights back” after Disney allegedly “attempted to bury this movie.” Disney did, in fact, own the rights to the film for a period of time, but claims that it was intentionally buried in order to cover up some kind of truth are unfounded.
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Even before his arrest, critics of the film flagged the involvement of Marta as suspicious. Self-proclaimed anti-disinformation activist, Jim Stewartson, explained on Twitter that Marta is a known organizer of “Sugar Daddy/Sugar Baby” parties, which connect young women seeking financial stability with older men. Through one of these parties, Marta began a relationship with Jessica “Laurent” Clark, and in 2020, Marta ran a successful campaign to get Clark elected to the Rockwood School Board in St. Louis County.
Since her election, Clark has caused controversy due to her anti-LGBTQ, right-wing stances and offensive comments, leading the Rockwood School District to distance itself from her. According to Stewartson, parents have complained that “she was basically elected by Fabian Marta and QAnon.”
Sound of Freedom as a whole has been the subject of similar complaints of right-wing propagandizing. The film stars Jim Caviezel — who played Jesus Christ in The Passion of the Christ and is an outspoken supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory — and is loosely based on Tim Ballard, a former-CIA special agent who founded the anti-trafficking non-profit, Operation Underground Railroad. The non-profit has been criticized by outlets like Vice News and Slate, who have both revealed its questionable practices and worrying connections to QAnon.
Anne Gallagher, who the US Department of State named as “the leading global expert on the international law on human trafficking,” described the work of Operation Underground Railroad “arrogant, unethical and illegal.”
Similarly, even the creative team behind Sound of Freedom itself appear to be guilty of some misleading business practices. As aforementioned, a media narrative has arisen that the film has done well beyond expectations at the box office… while this may be financially true, it doesn’t quite capture the full picture, since the film’s distributor, Angel Studios, encouraged fans to buy “extra tickets” through a “Pay It Forward” scheme. In reality, many folks reported that sold-out screenings of the film had empty seats, as a quantity of the tickets purchased went unused.
To date, the film has grossed $155 million against a $14.5 million budget.
Meanwhile, Marta’s next court date is set for August 28th. His bail was set at $15,000, but after an initial hearing on July 24th, he was released on personal recognizance.
